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Dravidian Languages: Families
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The origins of the Dravidian languages, as well as their subsequent development and the period of their differentiation, are unclear, and the situation is not helped by the lack of comparative linguistic research into the Dravidian languages. In addition to Elamite, inconclusive attempts have ... been made to link the family with the Japonic languages, Basque, Korean, Sumerian, the Australian Aboriginal languages and the unknown language of the Indus Valley civilisation. The theory that the Dravidian languages display similarities with the Uralic language group, suggesting a prolonged period of contact in the past[2], is popular amongst Dravidian linguists and has been supported by a number of scholars, including Robert Caldwell,[3] Thomas Burrow,[4] Kamil Zvelebil, [5] and Mikhail Andronov[6] This theory has, however, been rejected by specialists in Uralic languages,[7] and has in recent times also been criticised by other Dravidian linguists like Bhadriraju Krishnamurti.[8]
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The origins of the Dravidian languages, as well as their subsequent development and the period of their differentiation, are unclear, and the situation is not helped by the lack of comparative linguistic research into the Dravidian languages. There are striking similarities between the Dravidian and Uralic and Altaic language groups, which suggest prolonged contact between the language families at some stage although a common origin appears unlikely. Inconclusive attempts have ... been made to link the family with the Japonic languages , Basque , Korean , Sumerian , the Australian Aboriginal languages and the unknown language of the Indus valley civilisation .
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This authoritative reference provides unique descriptions of 11 Dravidian languages, covering their historical development with discussions of their specialized linguistic structures and features. Each chapter combines modern linguistic theory with traditional historical linguistics and a uniform chapter structure allows for easy comparison between the individual languages. Two further chapters provide general information about the language family--the introduction covers the history, cultural implications and linguistic background, and a separate article on Dravidian writing systems. Written by a team of experts, each language chapter offers a detailed analysis of phonology, morpology, syntax and lexicon.
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This authoritative reference is ideal both as an introduction to the language family and for linguists looking for new information, as well as for readers with a general interest in Dravidian and Indic culture. It contains twelve descriptions of the individual languages written by internationally recognized experts, as well as discussions about the internal structure of the language in relation to morphology, phonology, parts of speech, syntax and lexicon.
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The theory of borrowing in ancient time can not account for these morphological, lexicological and phonetic correspondences between Dravidian , Elamite, Egyptian, Manding and Sumerian, because of geographical discontinuity. This cognition illustrates a genetic relationship between the Bafsudraalam subset of the Proto-Saharan family of languages.
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